1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a cover plate for covering an upper opening of a spare wheel housing for accommodating a spare wheel of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional cover plate for a spare wheel housing is shown for example in FIG. 1, in which a floor panel 2 is depressed correspondingly to a shape of a spare wheel 1 to form a spare wheel housing 3. Within the spare wheel housing 3 is horizontally arranged the spare wheel 1, on the upper side of which is located the cover plate 4. A floor panel 2 which is a bottom of a trunk 5 of a vehicle is inherently preferably flat without any protrusion or depression and therefore the spare wheel housing 3 formed in the floor panel is preferably closed over its entire upper opening.
Such a conventional cover plate 4 is a mere thin disc plate. When the cover plate 4 is made larger than the aforementioned upper opening of the spare wheel housing 3, the cover plate 4 is only positioned on the floor panel 2 without any means for anchoring the plate in place. Accordingly, the cover plate is often likely to be shifted by vibrations or other forces of the vehicle. To avoid this, a conventional cover plate 4 is often made smaller than an outer diameter of the spare wheel 1 so that an outer circumference of the cover plate abuts against a circular raised surface of a sidewall of the tire to determine the position of the cover plate 4.
With such a conventional cover plate for a spare wheel, however, the cover plate 4 is smaller than the outer diameter of the spare wheel 1 to be supported on the upper side of the spare wheel, so that the outer circumference of the cover plate is apt to injure the spare wheel, while the cover plate 4 covers only a wheel disc 6 but does not cover a circular space between the outer circumference of the spare wheel 1 and the upper edge of the spare wheel housing 3, with the result that the cover plate does not sufficiently keep flat the bottom of the trunk 5. Moreover, as the cover plate does not have means for anchoring itself, the plate is likely to be shifted by vibrations or other forces of the vehicle and therefore it is difficult to maintain the cover plate in place.